The Covid diaries: Day 12 - My annual leave experience

A daily fly-on-the-wall blog about running a legal business during the Covid-19 crisis.

By Dónall Breen- 31 March 2020

I took a day of annual leave.

We have advised a lot of clients around annual leave recently: the fact that you can now carry over up to four weeks over the next two years (see here), the uncertainty around whether you can take leave during furlough (probably not, but it's not black and white), and the issue of whether you can force employees to take leave even if they do not want to do so (yes, under certain circumstances but best to get their agreement).

But what happens when the rubber hits the road and employees, in isolation, actually do go on leave? To investigate, I took a day off. This special report is brought to you with my findings.

First, make the most of your travel by framing it correctly. For example, instead of going from the garden to the kitchen to eat, I prefer "during Monday I travelled to Los Gardenos to catch some sun followed by a beautiful meal in the renowned Le' Dining Room". I gave the chef a top review.

Secondly, turn off your phone (if you can!). When your home is your office, you need to make an effort to break the work mentality. I made sure Darren had access to my inbox and was on hand to do all my work for me. So in reality, it was like any other day.

Thirdly, find something cultural to do. For one, I did some sightseeing and a walking history tour. This involved downloading a PlayStation game and assassinating people in ancient Rome so all the boxes were checked there.

Finally, keep up your usual holiday routine. I posted a picture on Instagram of me with my cocktail on the beach. Some adjustment was necessary of course. The cocktail was a can of beer and the beach was the doggy toilet in my local park. #StillCounts

All in all, it was actually a pleasant experience. It was nice to switch off for a few hours and just do the usual 'lazy Sunday' thing but on a weekday. Of course, as you can all imagine, the only thing on my mind the whole time was what interesting material I would add to this blog. It's good to be back.

If you would like to read our Covid diaries starting from day 1 please click here.